India’s ace racer Armaan Ebrahim and Sri Lankan team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa bagged a third place podium spot before a blown engine forced retirement in the next race of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series double header in Suzuka in Japan over the weekend.
The second stop of the 2016 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series kicked off on June11, 2016 at Japan’s famed Suzuka Circuit, a first for the series and one of two stops in the championship to be held in Japan this year.
The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series has held a race in Japan every year since its conception, but the 2016 season marks the first time the competition has visited Suzuka.
Earlier in the day, the qualifying session for race one went well for the Japanese drivers, with three of the top four grid positions held by local teams. AM driver Toshiyuki Ochiai of Japan and PRO teammate Afiq Yazid of Malaysia put in the fastest time, followed by another PRO-AM duo, Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka and Armaan Ebrahim of India in second. Local driver Yudai Uchida, and his New Zealand teammate Jono Lester came in third, chased by Japanese AM driver Takeshi Kimura.
On Sunday as the checkered flag fell, Ochiai and Yazid were in pole, followed by Uchida and Lester in second, with Low and Wiser in third. Zen Low is from Malaysia and his teammate Max Wiser is an Italian,
Armaan, supported by JK Tyre and driving for Dilango Racing team, qualified second for the first race on Saturday and looked set to maintain position. However, the team lost one spot after the mandatory pit-stop when Armaan handed over the car to Malagamuwa to complete the remainder of the race.
The final win went to Uchida and Lester, with Yazid and Ochiai in second, followed by Malagamuwa and Ebrahim in third.
On Sunday, in the second race for which the team had qualified ninth, Malagamuwa started and made four places to move into fifth when the engine blew leading to retirement, 20 minutes into the race.
Armaan, who is among five Asians included in the Young Drivers Program of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, and Malagamuwa had finished second in both races of the first round in Shanghai, China, last month. Commenting on the weekend, Chennai-based Armaan, said: “Obviously, we are very disappointed with what happened in the second race, but at least we managed to pick up some points from our podium finish in the first. On Saturday, I qualified second for the first race and Dilantha ninth for the second race. I was running second in the first race at the change-over and we finished third eventually.
"In the second race, Dilantha did well to move to fifth after starting ninth on the grid, but the engine blew and that was the end of it for us here. We now head to Buriram, Thailand, for the next round in July (23-24) and hopefully, have a better run there.”
With the weekends racing drawn to a close, drivers and teams now look forward to another first for the series. Next month for the first time ever, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo heads to Thailand to race the Buriram United International Circuit. The track, the first FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A circuit in Thailand represents a fresh challenge to most of the competitors, so will undoubtedly be a memorable race outing for all.
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